Committee to Protect Journalists: Turkey worst jailer of journalists

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has denounced Turkey for its intolerance towards free speech, describing the country as the ‘world’s worst jailor of journalists.’

According to an annual report released on Wednesday, the CPJ found that 211 journalists were imprisoned in different countries in a snapshot survey conducted on December 1.

The CPJ report further said this figure was the second highest number of journalists behind bars in its survey, topped only by the 232 last year.

According to the organization, there are 40 journalists in Turkish jails.

“Jailing journalists for their work is the hallmark of an intolerant, repressive society,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

“It is disturbing to see the number of jailed journalists rise in countries like Vietnam and Egypt,” Simon stated, adding, “But it is frankly shocking that Turkey would be the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the second year in a row.”

On December 5, the European Parliament expressed concern over inadequate press freedom in Turkey, criticizing the limited media coverage of anti-government protests in the country earlier this year.

Many of the Turkish journalists were arrested on charges of supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and plotting against the government.

The CPJ and other critics argue that Ankara has not distinguished between news coverage of the PKK and support of the group, been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.

In a similar move, many other journalists in Turkey have also been imprisoned in sweeping prosecutions on charges of conspiring against the administration of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Reporters Without Borders has dubbed Turkey as the world’s “biggest prison” for journalists.